Hybrid | Sidney Seminar: The Transformation of Mexican Constitutional Justice

The Transformation of Mexican Constitutional Justice

Speaker: Professor Ana Micaela Alterio (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México)

Chair: Natalia Morales Cerda (UCL Laws)

About the talk

This presentation examines the evolution of constitutional justice in Mexico over the last 30 years, starting with the judicial reform of 1994, which created a Constitutional Court. The analysis highlights key milestones in the Court's operations, including the 2011 human rights reform. The discussion then focuses on how Andrés Manuel López Obrador's election in 2018 changed the relationship between the Court and the Executive Power, leading to a confrontation. As part of this confrontation, the judiciary developed jurisprudential mechanisms to challenge certain government policies, such as suspending laws and rulings with general effects. In response, the government proposed a package of constitutional reforms targeting the judiciary.

After Claudia Sheinbaum's decisive victory in the 2024 presidential election, Congress passed these reforms. Under the banner of advancing the 'fourth transformation' of the country, the system of division of powers was modified entirely. The judicial system underwent structural changes, including the introduction of popular elections for all federal and local judges. A Disciplinary Tribunal was established to oversee the functioning of the judiciary, and the Amparo trial's effects were limited to restrict the power of judges in the face of 'popular will'. Several autonomous constitutional bodies were also dissolved. This process has resulted in the concentration of power within a nationalist and dubiously liberal narrative. While it seeks to legitimise itself by invoking the ideals of participatory democracy and inter-branch collaboration, the reality is the subordination of all power to the presidential will.

This seminar is part of the Sidney Seminar Series. Cropped image of the Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación by ProtoplasmaKid.

About the Speaker

Ana Micaela Alterio is a full-time Professor of Constitutional Law at ITAM (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México), School of Law. She is Level 2 for the National System of Researchers (SNII- CONAHCYT- México).   She holds a Master's degree and a Ph.D. in Advanced Studies in Human Rights from Carlos III de Madrid University. Her thesis granted her the extraordinary doctorate award. She got a political and constitutional studies diploma from the Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales de Madrid and her law degree from the National University of Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina.

She has made research stays at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany, at Columbia University in New York, and at the Institute of Legal Research of UNAM (México). Her work focuses on comparative constitutional law, constitutional design, democracy, political theory, human rights, equality, gender studies, and feminism -mainly from Latin America. She is the co-editor of the IberICONnect.blog and a member of the Council of ICON-S (The International Society of Public Law).

Her publications include the book Entre lo neo y lo nuevo del constitucionalismo Latinoamericano  -Between the Neo and the New of Latin American Constitutionalism- (Tirant Lo Blanch, 2021); she has several publications in International journals, and book chapters and has coordinated, together with Roberto Niembro Ortega the books Constitucionalismo Popular en Latinoamérica -Popular Constitutionalism in Latin America- (Porrúa, 2014); La Suprema Corte y el matrimonio igualitario en México – The Supreme Court and equal marriage in Mexico- (IIJ-UNAM 2017), as well as with Alejandra Martínez Verástegui the book Feminismos y derecho- Feminisms and the law- (SCJN, 2019)

About the Chair

Natalia Morales Cerda (she/her) is a PhD candidate and Postgraduate Teaching Assistant in Public Law at University College London. Her PhD research critically examines women’s direct participation in constituent processes, with a focus on the 2019-2022 Chilean constitution-making process, through the lenses of democratic and feminist theory. In doing so, her work provides a feminist critique of the ‘crisis’ of democratic representation. Natalia holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the University of Chile, as well as a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from the University of Sussex. She has been a visiting researcher at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and the Università degli Studi di Milano. Natalia has also worked as a legal advisor for the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity (Chile), as well as for NGOs in Chile and Mexico.

About the GCDC

The Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism, based at the UCL Faculty of Laws, seeks to advance scholarly knowledge of democratic governance, the rule of law, and constitutionalism. As a research community with a global perspective, our key focus is understanding how to achieve constitutional resilience in electorally competitive political systems. We are currently supported by the Leverhulme Trust.  

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